Playing For Keeps Eskimo Joe's on developing brand loyalty.

If you own an Eskimo Joe's shirt, you own an automatic bondwith anyone else you might see in the world who also owns an EskimoJoe's shirt. With more than 10 million shirts sold, that'sa lot of bonding. That sense of connectivity is a phenomenon thatowner Stan Clark doesn't completely understand. But hedoes understand that the loyalty of his customers hasallowed him to turn the "little beer bar" he and a buddybought 22 years ago for $10,000 in the college town of Stillwater,Oklahoma, into a multimillion-dollar hospitality and merchandisingmachine that includes three restaurants and an internationallydistributed apparel and accessories line.

Eskimo Joe's is a home-grown success story. For the firsteight years, Clark's focus was on the bar and catering toOklahoma State University students. T-shirt sales were anincidental component of his business.

But Clark beefed up T-shirt sales and added food service to thebusiness in 1983. Today, you can't buy T-shirts in the bar; yougo next door to a store called Joe's Clothes WorldHeadquarters, visit the Eskimo Joe's retail stores in OklahomaCity and Tulsa, Oklahoma, or order from catalogs that aredistributed at the rate of more than one million per year. Thecasual clothing and a variety of other logo-emblazoned items nowaccount for 70 percent of the $14 million in annual sales posted byStan Clark Companies Inc. Not only do Eskimo Joe's customerskeep coming back, but they happily pay to advertise for the companyby enthusiastically wearing and displaying the logo. Clark may nothave foreseen this when he went into the business, but heappreciates the phenomenon and is totally committed to operating ina way that will continue to inspire such dedication.